


rainy day stress

by rueflower



Series: college vibes [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship, Developing Relationship, Fluff, Friendship/Love, Gen, Implied/Referenced Underage Drinking, M/M, Tony Stark Needs Sleep, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, love to see it;
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2020-01-16 08:12:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18517450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rueflower/pseuds/rueflower
Summary: The sky looked how Tony felt.He held onto the hood of his raincoat as he walked across academic campus. It had been storming heavily for the past two days. The weather wasn’t doing wonders for Tony's mood, but the rain was a much bigger threat to the cumulative semester circuits project stashed in his backpack.





	rainy day stress

The sky looked how Tony felt.

He held onto the hood of his raincoat as he walked across academic campus. It had been storming heavily for the past two days. The weather wasn’t doing wonders for Tony's mood, but the rain was a much bigger threat to the cumulative semester circuits project stashed in his backpack. He hadn't thought to bring an umbrella, and the rain had already soaked well into the black canvas bag.

The graduate teaching assistant just kicked Tony out of the electronics lab, after nearly 14 hours of grinding through project theory and development. It was probably for the best. The circuit calculations for his audio equalizer and amplifier were blurring together, and he burned through too many components to justify working any longer. Tony's back was sore from hunching over a breadboard for longer than strictly necessary, and he still couldn’t figure out why the mid range bandpass filter wasn’t meeting the target frequencies.

Tony was frustrated, close to tears, and overall felt like a basement gremlin.

Dodging the rain, he jumped from electrical engineering, to physics, to the mechanical engineering building. He was getting increasingly upset because all of his favorite study spaces were taken. This week had felt like the longest year of Tony's life. Even with three quizzes and a midterm over, he still needed to debug a computational modeling project, proofread his lab report, and the stupid audio circuit was due in less than a week. Turning away from the crowded study lounge, he took a shaky breath, feeling thoroughly overwhelmed.

In a moment of absurd clarity, Tony realized that his stomach had been rumbling for the past few hours. As much as he hated to admit, no amount of coffee could substitute for an actual meal. Thinking back, he realized that his last real meal had been with Pepper, Tuesday evening. That had been nearly two days ago. No wonder he felt like garbage. Tony had even promised her that he would eat something other than Takis. He sighed, readjusted his backpack, and turned towards the nearest dining court.

 

 

Tony's shoes squeaked from all the accumulated rainwater as he walked across the entranceway. He could feel a pit in his stomach. He knew that he was overreacting to everything, but it felt like people were staring at his shoes for making a ridiculous amount of noise. He hurried over the the carpet runner, and quietly entered the dining hall.

Truth be told, Tony wasn’t really hungry in the first place. He walked around once, twice, and felt more nauseous than anything. Despite not eating for nearly two days, he was much more concerned about his failing academics. He needed to get that project done, and it had to work perfectly. He really wanted Howard to be proud of his equalizer. The lab instructor had commented on how ambitious his project was, and how impressive it would be to pull it off.

Eventually Tony grabbed a tray and made a small salad at the counter. On the way to the fountain drinks, he was able to secure a bowl of tomato soup, too. Vegetables and warmth. Pepper might as well sign him up for the cover of Men's Digest. After filling a glass with water, he turned to find a seat in the crowded dining room.

Tony quickly zeroed in on a small table in the corner, somewhat dirty. With his back to the brick wall, he set down his tray and wiped the tabletop down with a napkin.

Just as he was taking off his wet jacket, he heard a soft “Hey Tony.” Someone tapped his shoulder. 

His back tensed, and Tony sucked in a shallow breath. He hated when people touched him, and he didn't recognize the voice.

Tony quickly schooled his face to an impassive look, and turned around. And then looked up. And then relaxed, marginally.

Steve was one of Rhodey’s friends. Tony met him earlier in the semester, when he was drunk out of his wits at a function. Steve found Tony in the bathroom, coiled up and hunched over the toilet. Admittedly, not one of his finest moments, though Steve was far too understanding for the situation. He found some mouthwash, and a water bottle, and disappeared back into the night after Tony had sobered up.

They had run into each other a few times after that. When Tony was helping Rhodey with his circuits homework, Steve had stopped by to drop off some sympathy chocolates. He had also waved to Tony, in passing, in between classes.

“Oh, hey!” Tony's voice cracked, and he inwardly cringed. Steve's eyes crinkled as he laughed quietly.

“I was wondering, if you, well, my friends and I..” Steve started, and gestured to a table a few feet away. Tony simply stared, confused as to what Steve was getting at.

“Do you want to move over there? If not, that’s totally cool, but you’re sitting alone, and you remember Bucky, and Sam, right? They were on my softball team, and we hang out sometimes.” Steve was starting to ramble, and he subconsciously scratched the back of his head.

“Oh. Oh! Yeah, totally, thanks!” Tony stood and turned away, making to grab for his belongings. He was desperate to hide the fact that his cheeks were heating up. 

Steve was… so nice, and popular, and attractive. Tony was sat by himself, looking like he had just crawled out of a World War II bunker. He knew that he looked like a sad loner, eating by himself. Which he was fine with, for the record. It was just embarrassing to have someone point it out, even with good intentions.

Tony scrambled to grab his jacket and backpack. He didn't want to keep Steve waiting. He turned back to lift his dinner tray, but saw that Steve already picked it up and was smiling once again.

“Ready?” and he started over to his table of friends. Tony trailed behind him, mostly unsure of himself. He was honestly kind of afraid to dine with Steve's group. 

The thing was, Steve was just… so perfect. Nice to talk to, nice to look at, and Tony really wanted to make a better impression than hanging his head in the toilet at 1am. Because, well, he wanted to be friends with Steve. Tony really hoped that Steve hadn't invited him to eat as an act of charity, but because he wanted to hang out.

As the two approached the table, Tony couldn't help but notice that all four seats were occupied. His heart sank a little. He was just about to offer to sit back at his solo table, when Steve firmly set the tray down, and gave a short "be right back."

Tony then watched as Steve walked halfway around the dining court to pull a chair out of mid air, carry it back to their cramped table, and placed it at the head. Tony haphazardly draped his jacket across the back, and Steve beamed.

At that, Tony's heart did a little flip. Even though they had only interraced a handful of times, Steve was certainly a bright spark in Tony's college experience. And boy, was Tony ever so ready to chase that light.

**Author's Note:**

> come yell at me: rueflower.tumblr.com
> 
> true story, in which im tony and the guy im squishing on is a very cute, slightly less muscular steve rogers. pray 4 me.
> 
> also pray 4 me bc this my first fic.


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